Memorandum

City of Lawrence

City Manager’s Office

Date:	December 23, 2010
To:	David Corliss, City Manager
CC:	Diane Stoddard, Assistant City Manager; Jonathan Douglass, Assistant to the City Manager / City Clerk
From:	Casey Toomay, Budget Manager
RE:	Recommendation of firm to conduct 2011 Citizen Survey

Please place the following item on the City Commission agenda for consideration at their December 28, 2010 meeting:

Authorize the City Manager to enter into negotiations with ETC Institute for a contract for services for completion of a 2011 citizen survey.

Background

The 2010 budget included $30,000 for a citizen survey to assess the satisfaction of our residents with the overall quality of city services and programs.  The last citizen survey, conducted in 2007, has been a useful management tool for prioritizing resources and a significant part of the City’s performance measurement system.     

In November, a Request for Proposals for the development and conducting of a 2011 citizen satisfaction survey was distributed to appropriate vendors.  Responses were received from two firms – ETC Institute and Infogroup / ORC.  Staff recommends ETC Institute based on the following:

¦ Experience and familiarity with Kansas municipalities;

¦ Extent of their client base which will provide us with the ability to benchmark our performance;

¦ Recent work for the City conducting the 2007 citizen survey;

¦ Project approach using mail, phone, and internet to administer the survey;

¦ Ability to use data from the prior survey instrument to identify trends over time;

¦ Optional services they can provide;

¦ Ability to return a final product in 12 to 14 weeks;

¦ Pricing structure (“ala carte” nature) of their proposal

Project Scope, Timeline, and Budget

ETC Institute proposes administering a survey using a combination of mail and telephone to gather a sample size of 900.  They also provide the option to make the survey available on the internet.  ETC will tabulate the data and present a final report to the City’s management team and the City Commission.  The proposed timeline for the project from the initial meeting to discuss the survey goals and objectives until the formal presentation of the survey results is 12 to 14 weeks.  The proposal also contains a number of optional services such as stakeholder interviews, benchmarking analysis, and geo-coding of data. 

The proposal for a 20-minute survey with 800 completed responses and all the optional services was $29,250.  Funding will be provided by a combination of funds, given the variety of departments involved in the survey.

Action Request

Staff recommends the City Commission authorize the City Manager to enter into a contract with ETC Institute in the amount of $29,250 for completion of a 2011 citizen survey.